


Lightheaded

by vampiricrose



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Collapsing, Established Relationship, Health problems, M/M, Minor Injuries, talk of hospitalisation, teen for swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27181357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vampiricrose/pseuds/vampiricrose
Summary: A day off, as appetising and relaxing they are, aren't always great.Ritsu realises this first-handed as his health takes a sudden downfall on one.
Relationships: Isara Mao/Sakuma Ritsu
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	Lightheaded

**Author's Note:**

> truthfully i didnt intend for two health problem fics so close but this has been in my wips for a while and i got the motivation to finish it so!!! *throws this on the floor and watches you all writhe to grab the maoritsu*

The sound of shattering glass, preceded by a sudden, sharp, “ _fuck!_ ” snaps Mao out of a daze. Sprawled out on the couch, a random television show plays white noise. Shit, did he fall asleep? It wouldn’t be surprising, actually. Both of them, him and Ritsu, have a day off today. Lining up schedules to spend days together in their apartment - something Mao came up with.   
  
Speaking of Ritsu, Mao calls out his name in response to the noise he heard. He can already guess what happened - Ritsu probably smashed a glass in his hands or something. This happens a lot, it’s kind of worrying, actually. Sometimes Ritsu loses all energy, and he forgets to grasp onto something he’s holding in preference to stay balanced, or he grasps far too hard until it breaks into sharp shards that tear into his hands.   
  
Walking into the kitchen, Mao repeats, “Ritsu?” Ritsu makes no reaction, dizzy and leaning against the counter. Ignoring the broken glass on the floor, Mao walks over to grab Ritsu into his arms. He’s gonna collapse in a second, judging by the way his knees shake. Mao flinches briefly at the feeling of glass digging into his feet, but he quickly realises that’s probably the least of his concerns at the moment.   
  
Ritsu sighs, losing strength in his body fully, leaving Mao to hold up his weight. It’s fine - Mao’s muscular, Ritsu’s skinny. If anything, Mao enjoys carrying Ritsu. Quite literally carrying him into safety, it’s something nice. Like a fairytale story.   
  
Hearing the glass crack beneath him, Mao carries Ritsu back into the living room, on the same couch Mao was on. Ritsu doesn’t seem to ‘here’ currently, zoned out, eyes glazed over. This would normally panic any other person, but Mao’s been with Ritsu enough to know this is fine. This is normal - though, it shouldn’t be.   
  
Mao holds Ritsu’s hand, frowning at the pieces of glass sticking out of it. So, his assumption that it shattered in Ritsu’s hand is right? That’s not good. Blood is trickling out, so he needs to clean it, and pull out the glass. His skin is still smooth despite the punctures in skin, Mao almost doesn’t want to let go.   
  
But he does. Pulling out the shards of glass invading his hands, bandaging them up, blood soaking through easily. Ritsu’s eyes are still glazed over - Mao is unsure if he’s conscious, regardless.   
  
Mao considers staying with him for the time being, but decides against it in recollection of the glass still scattered on the kitchen floor. It _can_ be taken care of later, but leaving it on the floor gives Mao a strange feeling of worry. Like if he doesn’t clean it up, something bad will happen.   
  
Plus, Ritsu just fell asleep, so he’d feel less guilty to leave him there. Just a little bit less. And it won’t take that long, because Mao’s gotten used to cleaning up this sort of thing.   
  
Giving him a chaste kiss on the forehead, Mao wraps his jacket around Ritsu before walking back into the kitchen. He flinches at the pressure on his feet, and immediately realises that due to his careless walking on the glass, he has cuts of his own there. There’s no glass stuck in them, just some cuts. Gross.   
  
Taking a second to wipe down the injuries, he looks around if there’s anything he can use for a bandage. He used most of them on Ritsu’s hands, covered in wounds with quite a lot of blood loss. That said, he doesn’t regret prioritising Ritsu over him.   
  
Well, if there’s no open wounds and it’s not bleeding, he assumes he can just put some socks on instead. That’ll be fine, right? And if Ritsu sees the cuts, he knows damn well that he’d blame himself a lot. Which is stupid, mind you, Ritsu can’t control his health acting up and Mao did willingly walk on it to get to him, but he’ll blame himself anyway.   
  
There’s only large shards of glasses on the floor, the smaller ones had stuck into Ritsu, so it didn't take him a long time to clean. At most, it must’ve taken just five measly minutes. Mao makes a mental note to buy more glasses, though, since they’re running low. Or they could just use paper and plastic cups, that’d be better.   
  
After he’s sure the kitchen is safe again, he walks back into the living room, seeing Ritsu still curled up. His eyes are open again, focused on something, and he turns to glance at Mao, who smiles gently at the recognition. Mao kneels down, running his hand through Ritsu’s hair.   
  
Ritsu doesn’t say anything. Neither does Mao. The comfortable silence is welcomed but they both know they’ll have to talk in a second. Mao slides to sit onto the couch, Ritsu immediately crawling into his arms. Cute. The jacket Mao put on him is too large on him, acting more like a blanket then anything else.   
  
“Sorry,” Ritsu whimpers, and Mao can’t help but chuckle somewhat. Does Ritsu realise he’s not in control of his own health? If he was, Mao really doubts Ritsu would make himself go through this much pain.   
  
Besides, if Ritsu breaks anything, Mao can always replace it. And if Ritsu hurts himself, Mao can clean it and bandage him up. It’s not hard. It’s worth it, if anything, since it keeps Ritsu happy, and Mao can stay with him.   
  
Digging his nails into the bandages on his hands, they soaken further with blood, crawling under his fingernails. Mao has to slide his own hands into the gaps to prevent them from ripping, shaking his head and holding Ritsu’s hands in his own. His own hands get a little wet with blood, but it doesn’t matter.   
  
“Ritchan,” Mao sings out, running his hands through Ritsu’s hair. Ritchan should learn to realise when stuff isn’t his fault. Let’s get him started - his health isn’t his fault. Him collapsing isn’t his fault. The only thing to blame is his health, which he has no control over. What’s the point of grieving and hating something you can’t control? It’s not worth it. It’ll make you bitter.   
  
“And, I like sweet things more than bitter things.”   
  
Ritsu laughs at Mao’s comparison there. Are you saying if Ritsu was mad all the time Mao wouldn’t like the _taste_ of him? Maybe he should do it, considering Mao’s libido. Mao blushes, and barks out a reminder they’re having a relatively serious conversation. Don’t bring up Mao being horny! He’s trying to be nice!   
  
Though, it gives Mao some comfort that Ritsu is back to his usual self now. Not the messy, self-hatred and guilt-ridden husk that appears far too commonly. Mao rests his head on the top of Ritsu’s, wrapping his arms around him tighter, and Ritsu makes a soft noise. Did Ritsu think his hands were going elsewhere? Man, and Ritsu calls Mao the horny one.   
  
“I’m not as blunt about it as you are, though,” Ritsu sniggers, rolling into Mao’s arms more and digging his head into his chest. Mao likes when Ritsu does this - the way he burrows into Mao like it’s a safety net, is comforting.   
  
Tomorrow, they both have to go back to working. Mao can’t help but feel somewhat worried at Ritsu’s health - he hasn’t collapsed in a few months before this. Will Ritsu be okay tomorrow? He wants to make sure he’s fine, but Ritsu won’t tell anyone if he’s feeling bad. Even Arashi picked up on it, saying how it’s cute and boyish but still _extremely worrying_ and Mao’s inclined to agree.   
  
“Hey, Ritchan, how come you collapsed anyway?” Mao asks, cupping Ritsu’s cheek with his hand. Ritsu makes a soft noise. He genuinely doesn’t know. Isn’t that kind of scary? That Ritsu’s unsure of what his own body will do to him.   
  
Mao tilts his head. Are you sure you should work tomorrow? Mao wants to trust Ritsu - he does, but the gnawing anxiety that Ritsu will get seriously hurt can overwhelm that a lot. Plus… Mao doesn’t have to work _too much_ tomorrow. He can just finish up his work and take care of Ritsu.   
  
Ritsu laughs. It sounds like Mao’s trying to convince Ritsu to let them both have a day alone, huh? Too bad. Ritsu really can’t take the day off tomorrow. Knights are having a meeting, something important, Ritsu stutters over that. Seems like Knights are working super hard on something confidential.   
  
Well. Keep Mao updated on his condition, or else he’ll most definitely end up intruding on the meeting. And that would cause some extreme second-hand embarrassment for both of them, Ritsu sticking his tongue out. Sure. He’ll keep him in the loop.   
  
\---   
  
**maakun** : ritsuuu how r u   
**maakun** : ritsu??   
  
\---   
  
Maybe he’s just in the middle of the meeting - he doubts anything super severe. If he’s not responded by… an hour? He’ll check up on him.   
  
Or, that’s what he had planned, before a ping on his phone snapped him out of a conversation with Trickstar.   
  
**ritsu** : hey   
**maakun** : there u are! I got worried   
**ritsu** : it’s fine   
**ritsu** : i’ve been told 2 go home tho :((   
**maakun** : huh, why?   
**ritsu** : fell over   
  
Mao runs a hand through his hair. Of course. He doesn’t know why he thought differently. He really should’ve made Ritsu stay home today.   
  
**maakun** : i’m done with work for the day so i can come w/ u?   
**ritsu** : please   
  
He waves goodbye to Trickstar - their little chats and conversations after talking and training cut short, and he picks up his pace to run over to where Ritsu is. He hopes nothing is bad. He hopes Ritsu isn’t bruised or bleeding. He hopes he just got dizzy, and they can go home and lay together on the couch for a while until they inevitably have to go to their responsibilities.   
  
Sadly, just a little thing like that isn’t possible. There’s a nasty bruise forming on his arm, and a little bit of half-wiped blood under his nose. Mao’s first instinct is to wipe it away, but it leaves Ritsu flinching away with sensitivity.   
  
Izumi looks over briefly with a hint of concern in his eyes, but he looks away when he realises Mao’s seen him.   
  
“Are you ready to go home?”   
“Yeah.”   
  
Ritsu bids Knights’ farewell, getting worried glances and shaky goodbyes in the time-being. Mao has to give them a gentle, silent reassurance that he’ll take care of him.   
  
Mao unlocks the door to their apartment, glancing back at Ritsu who’s leaning on him heavily to stay upright. He thinks it’s just his hypotension coming to fuck him up, honestly, but if it’s gotten this bad for him to collapse twice in such a short amount of time he needs to get some help with it.   
  
“Should I call your dad?” He asks, cupping Ritsu’s cheek in his hand and gently rubbing his thumb against his cheekbones. Honestly, Mao’s tempted to just call an ambulance considering how poorly Ritsu seems to be coping but it could be worse. Mao thinks that if Ritsu isn’t better at all by tomorrow he’ll do it without thinking.   
  
Mao pulls Ritsu onto his lap, moving to sit down on the sofa and he can feel how weak Ritsu is in his arms, soft noises and breath. It’d be cute if it wasn’t a sign of his quickly deteriorating health.   
  
“Go to sleep, Ritchan.”   
“Don’t wanna.”   
“You’ll be fine. I’m here, y’know?”   
“I’ll wake up in a hospital.”   
  
Ritsu tries to muster a glare, but he can’t really get the energy to do so. Funny - Ritsu already knows what’s gonna happen. Mao knows he hates hospitals. That’s why he wants to get his father first, he can get his father to do things before hospitalisation. Or else Mao will drag Ritsu there.   
  
Despite Ritsu’s insistence that he doesn’t want to sleep, Mao can sense his sluggishness increase as Mao lays down onto his back, leaving Ritsu to rest his head comfortably on his chest as Mao runs his fingers through his hair. Ritsu keeps mumbling that he’s not gonna fall asleep.   
  
“You’re gonna.”   
“‘M not…”   
Mao sniggers. Hey. It’s fine if he does. Mao promises he won’t take him to the hospital. (Not yet, he’ll wait until Ritsu wakes up to drag him there if he absolutely has to.)   
  
A yawn, and he sleeps. Of course. Mao picks him up by the back of his thighs, keeping him against his chest and laying him down in the bed. He has to detach himself from Ritsu, sadly, despite his sleeping bodies insistence of grabbing on.   
  
Mao can already tell the amount of scolding and whining he’ll get from Ritsu tomorrow as he sends a brief message to his father. It’s not long before he gets a response, the same thing he was thinking himself to do. Keep him off work, let him rest, if it gets worse in the slightest take him in. 

The only downside Mao can think of is that he’ll still have to work. Maybe he could do some of it as home? He sends a query of it to the Trickstar group chat, and Hokuto says he can give him the paperwork he himself should be doing if it helps him feel productive whilst at home. Well, it seems like they already know he won’t be going in, but Mao doesn’t mind taking on some of Hokuto’s stuff. It’s fine.  
  
It’s dark out quick, and he can feel himself want to sleep. He pokes his head into their bedroom, Ritsu’s still sleeping fine. Good. Mao would feel bad if he woke up alone.   
  
Sliding under the sheets next to him, he feels Ritsu immediately shuffle himself to Mao, and who’s Mao to not wrap his arms around him? 

**Author's Note:**

> ty~~ for reading!!


End file.
